As Marco Rubio faces pressure to change course and run for a second term in the U.S. Senate, it’s time to look at the seat’s unique history and ask whether Florida is cursed somehow.
“Nothing’s changed,” Rubio said Friday, saying he has no plans to run, even though that would lessen the chances that Republicans would keep their majority. But Rubio has not said so unconditionally, and he has until June 24 to get on the ballot.
Anything can happen, as this seat’s past occupants have taught us repeatedly.
What first put Rubio on a path to the Senate was Mel Martinez’s shocking decision to resign in the middle of his first term in 2009.
After Martinez quit, Gov. Charlie Crist appointed his former chief of staff, George LeMieux, following a series of awkward interviews with other Senate hopefuls, including the late U.S. Reps. Clay Shaw and Bill Young. A visibly indifferent Young showed up for his interview in sneakers and an untucked shirt.
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